Weight is one of the simplest measurements of nutritional status. Nevertheless, a number of personnel in the community nursing services lack knowledge about nutrition and good routines for weighing patients. FORFATTERE Heidi Aagaard Førstelektor Avdeling for helse-og sosialfag, Høgskolen i Østfold Vigdis Abrahamsen Grøndahl Førsteamanuensis Avdeling for helse-og sosialfag, Høgskolen i Østfold SAMMENDRAG Background: Studies show that patients who receive assistance from the community nursing

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... ices may be susceptible to undernutrition. In order to map nutritional status, in 2009 the Norwegian Directorate of Health issued national professional guidelines for the prevention and treatment of undernutrition, which stressed that all patients admitted to institutions or persons registered with the community nursing services are to be assessed for nutritional risk. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the routines that managers and health care personnel in the community nursing services follow when assessing patients' nutritional status. Method: The study was a quantitative cross-sectional study, comprising two sub-studies: one among managers in the community nursing services and one among health care personnel. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. A total of 273 managers (response rate 59%) and 212 health care personnel (response rate 74%) answered the questionnaire. Results: 67% of the managers and 37% of the health care personnel were familiar with the Directorate of Health's national guidelines. One out of three respondents replied that the community nursing services have written procedures for assessing nutritional status. 80% of the managers and 69% of the health care personnel stated that it was not usual to weigh service users when registering them for community nursing services.